Home>Course>[CHES5136] Hong Kong and Mainland China: Interaction and Integration>CHES5136

This is an interdisciplinary course that explores the dynamic integration of Hong Kong with Mainland China, encompassing social, economic, cultural, and political dimensions. The course aims to provide you with ideas, methods, and experience in understanding how these interactions and integrations occur in our daily lives and how they shape identities, boundaries, and the broader imagination of the “other.” It adopts an actor-oriented approach, emphasizing that it is people, rather than places, who interact and integrate. You will explore the everyday experiences of various actors, such as daigou practitioners, cross-boundary students, business people, key opinion leaders (KOLs), migrant workers, and other agents who embody the connection between the two regions. This will help you gain a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted process featured by cultural discrepancy, conflicting political values, and intersectionality.

Drawing upon the fields of anthropology, cultural studies, history, and sociology, this course will provide a broad introduction to key theories and themes in mobility, migration, identities, gender, labour and diversity. It will incorporate ethnographic research and practical experiences, equipping you with analytical tools for critical thinking about how we should understand and interact with different “others.” A selection of readings bring into discussion the methods necessary to examine the vibrant tension in culturally complex societies, including ethnographic observation, in-depth interviews, content analysis, and digital ethnography.

Week 1: Introduction: Hong Kong as a Global Laboratory

Week 2: Methodology: How We Do Interaction and Integration?

Week 3: Migration and Identity: Why We/They Are Here?

Week 4: Consuming Hong Kong or Shenzhen?

Week 5: Ghosts and Deities in the City

Week 6: Doing Good in Hong Kong and Mainland China

Week 7: Savouring Hong Kong: Exploring the Flavours of the City

Week 8: Gender and Sexuality: Being Gay in Hong Kong and Mainland China

Week 9: Good Death and Bad Death in Chinese Societies

Week 10: Fieldtrip to Tung Wah Coffin Home

Week 11: Love and Family in Chinese Societies

Week 12: You as Method: Cross-boundary Students in Hong Kong

Week 13: Fieldtrip to Tai O or Mai Po Nature Reserve